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As the dust settles on the worst summer of my life, routine is creeping back into my world and wrapping itself around me like an old familiar blanket.
School and activities have started. There are carpools to organize, homework and volleyball games to juggle, and all the rest of the organized chaos that makes up daily life with children.
"We have to redo the wake-up," my youngest says to me on most days. I have returned in some ways to my frenetic self, flipping on her light and announcing she has to jump out of bed and get ready for school.
Instead, she prefers that I come to her bedside, brush the hair away from her face, kiss her cheek, gently pull down the covers, and quietly tell her it is time to start her day. Now, if I don't do it this way, she wants a "redo." She turns out the light, gets back in bad, and I leave the room and come back in, pretending this is the first time I am seeing her that morning.
It makes sense that the way we greet the morning sets the tone for our entire day. It just took my nine-year-old to remind me of that. So when I fail, I indulge her need for the "redo."
Unfortunately, with most things in life, we don't have the opportunity to redo. I'm sure we all have those regretful moments we wish we could rewind and erase altogether. But what I am learning from my daughter is that I just have to stop, think and be deliberate about what I am doing, and then there's no need for a redo.
Without warning, without knowing, they teach us one brilliant life lesson at a time ...
Amanda is the mom of two, a reporter for WRAL-TV and the author of several books including three on motherhood. Find her here on Mondays.
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August 28, 2012 1:06 p.m.